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| The FBI investigation into Leon County Schools continues. Image: Shutterstock |
In March, the FBI served a
search-and-seizure warrant at the Leon County Schools’ Technology Information
Services office as part of an ongoing investigation into theft and bribery
related to federally-funded programs. As the Tallahassee Democrat reported earlier this month, the federal probe
into the Florida school district continues to intensify.
Reports Tallahassee Democrat contributor Jeff Burlew, “When FBI agents
showed up last month at Leon County Schools’ technology office with a
search-and-seizure warrant, they did more than walk away with the district’s
email archiving system,” adding that, “they signaled to the district and the
community they had reached a crucial point in their investigation.”
The Leon County School
district has been under FBI investigation for some time. A subpoena issued in
October 2014 asked the district to provide thousands of pages of documents
involving projects dating back to as early as 2007, purportedly. Now, with the
recent issuance of the search-and-seizure warrant, it has become clearer than
ever that the FBI believes a crime has been committed.
As Miami-based attorney and
legal analyst Kendall Coffey points out, issuing a search-and-seizure warrant marks a pivotal
moment in the investigation. Coffey recently commented on the investigation,
explaining that, “While not every search-and-seizure warrant results in a
criminal prosecution, in a very significant number of cases, a
search-and-seizure warrant eventually culminates in a prosecution.” He also
comments, “When FBI agents show up to execute a search warrant because probable cause has necessarily been found, there will be some people who are sleeping
less at night,” alluding to the Leon County School district administration.
Jennifer Prior Brown, a
former federal prosecutor in Miami, echoes Coffey’s analysis of the ongoing
investigation. “They were able to convince a federal judge that there’s
probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime will be found in the
materials they sought to search,” she says of the FBI’s issuance of the
search-and-seizure warrant. “You can’t have evidence of a crime without a
crime.”
The search-and-seizure
warrant authorized the FBI to take electronic records related to as many as 15
broad areas, including tax deductions, charity donations, and federal funds
received by Leon County Schools.
Now, insiders predict that
it’s only a matter of time before charges are filed against Leon County School
district administration.
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